5 killed as private aircraft crashes into building under construction in Mumbai

Mumbai , JUNE 28,
Four persons on board and one person on ground were killed as a private aircraft crashed into a building under construction at Ghatkopar in Mumbai on Thursday afternoon.
The aircraft, which was on a scheduled “local flying” trip to and from Juhu, had two pilots and two aircraft maintenance engineers on board.
Officials said the aircraft had been in touch with the Air Traffic Control in Juhu and cleared to land at two miles from the Juhu airport runway. It, however, crashed at a distance of one mile from the Mumbai airport’s main runway.
Lalit Gupta, Joint Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a statement, said the aircraft, a King Air C-90 aircraft (VT-UPZ), belonged to U.Y. Aviation Pvt Ltd., which had bought it from the Uttar Pradesh government.
“The aircraft took off from Juhu airport for a test flight… A DGCA team is on the way for preliminary investigation. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) shall do a detailed one,” Mr. Gupta said.
A statement from Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said he had directed the DGCA to conduct an investigation into incident.